Dates
On a dark night, during the height of the Great Depression, a baby girl was born to Warren and Alice Dannheim. A bright light would continue to shine over her family and friends for the next 90 years. Mary Juanell came into this life in a small love-filled home in Mason on October 24,1933. She left it in a different, but still love-filled home in Big Lake on February 17,2024. In between, she had great adventures, great heartbreak, but always with a servant’s heart and a positive outlook.
If you ever met her, you know she viewed everyone as a friend – whether family, a fellow Masonite, someone she knew from her many travels as an Air Force wife, a patient she knew from her nursing career, or someone she ministered to during her years on staff at Sierra Vista. In later years, it might be a fellow resident or caregiver at Lyndale or most recently at the Reagan County Care Center. If Juanell had met you at all, she thought of you as a friend and she loved you.
Juanell lost her beloved husband, Frank, much too soon and her parents later, but she continued to pour herself into her remaining family for the rest of her years. She probably holds the record for sponsoring the most Mason High School bus trips in the 70’s. She loved attending her children’s activities through the years, and especially those of her adored, do-no-wrong grandchildren. They were truly lights of her life and she would tell everyone she knew, and even a few she didn’t know, how amazing they are. Then came another round of wonderfulness – great-grandchildren. She was blessed to babysit a few of them when they were newborns. Even in these last years, when her memory was fading, she constantly asked how her babies were doing.
Mary Juanell loved the Lord from her early years to the end of her life. She loved well, was well-loved and we look forward to seeing her again someday.
She is survived by her daughters, Karen {Bobby} McDonald of Big Lake and Lori (Hal) Reese of Christoval; grandchildren, Josh (Brandi) McDonald of Greenwood, Kaci (Jason) Rybolt of Greenwood, Travis (Jessilyn) of Austin and Amy (Zane) Wilson of Ft. Collins, CO; great- grandchildren, Connor McDonald, Zachary Rybolt, Caili McDonald, Ethan Rybolt, Aidan Wilson, Byron Wilson, Audie Reese and Anderson Reese.
A celebration will be held at 2:00 pm on Monday, February 26,2024 at Reagan County Care Center. Donations may be made to: Care Friends 1009 Virginia Circle, Big Lake, TX 76932.